Fatal Romance
by Izanami-san
Summary: 2 years later, Luffy has continued his journey, and while sailing he finds someone he can't help but look at. She has something everyone else he's met lacks. But with her comes more than just memories of Ace.
1. Reach me

(thump~, thump~, thump~)  
Ah~ there it was again..  
Once in a while he'd hear it when he sat on top of Sunny's head.  
The sound of 2 heartbeats.  
They were small but strong.  
Calm but fierce.  
A sound that both relaxed and enthralled Luffy.  
The man himself couldn't explain where it came from. But the minute he ran past a street, suddenly , it was louder and clearer than he'd ever heard it before.  
It called out to him.  
It stopped him.  
And finally, it pushed him to turn his body towards the sound. Curiosity had struck , and he couldn't help but smile, while his heart drilled the 2 mixed heartbeats.  
(thump)  
(thump)  
(thump)...  
Finally when he reached it. He scrunched his eyes slightly before finally outstretching his hand towards what seemed to be a woman's back...


	2. Hi

Warm. That's all he thought once he reached the woman...  
She felt warm...  
There was something familiar and warm about this person.  
Something he couldn't help put his finger on.

It bothered Luffy, but it wasn't enough to make him uneasy.  
However, the sounds he'd heard for so long had now synced, and once he turned to look past the woman, there , stood 2 children.  
Seemingly harmless, but with eyes that reminded him of someone so close to him, Luffy couldn't help but let go of the woman's shoulder and turn to stare at the children.  
Until finally as they stood, the woman walked towards them, smiled, and in a warm voice said

" say hi.."


	3. Loved Him

Confused, the children turned to their mother and quietly searched for an answer as to whom the man was.  
However, the woman stood silently to the side ,while giving them a slight nudge to walk towards the man with a straw hat.

In front was a girl, and behind a boy . Together, they stood silently, but finally, the first to approach the strange man was the girl.  
When she was close enough, she bravely faced him and said in a powerful voice " Hi Mister!" , while behind her the boy murmured in a quiet voice " Nice to meet you..".

Confused, Luffy looked at the children, and then at their mother, and asked :  
" Who are you?".

Smiling while the children ran behind her, the woman said:  
"Someone who loved Ace very much.."


	4. It's you

Looking from the woman to the children behind, Luffy stood frozen for a few minutes before finally covering his face with his hat and saying  
" Our family...  
All three of you... are part of my family..".  
He himself didn't know how he came to that conclusion, but right there and then his gut told him they had to be people who were special to Ace...

Silence reigned as the woman stood with her children at her side, and Luffy quietly reminisced.  
He remembered all the times Ace scolded him , protected him, and looked out for him.  
All of those times had flooded into his mind, and with a single whisper from the boy behind the woman, Luffy raised his neck to fully see an exact replica of his brother's face ask in a scared, but worried voice:

"...Are you okay?"

The man in the Straw Hat took a second to breath in some air, and surprised the child by laughing a little before sniffing and smiling at him, and replying :  
"Yep!".


	5. Home

Now looking from left to right Luffy scrunched down to the kids level and smiled at them while he heard the woman speak from above:  
" You know... all Ace ever talked about was his little brother "Luffy", and how proud of him he was..."  
surprised Luffy touched his straw hat for a second before replying  
.." heh...that guy .. haa.. he was awesome .."

Smiling at his response, the woman made the surrounding areas around Luffy feel all of a sudden calm and quiet unlike the reality of it and when a good amount of time passed in silence, she suddenly said

" Wanna come to our house?"

A little conflicted at the fact that his crew was no where to be seen, Luffy was about to tell her to wait but when out of no where she mentioned food he lost his sense and agreed almost instantly.

"Yosh! Let's goo!"

and somehow among the way, gaining the trust of the children who had hidden from him not to long ago, he ran with them in front while he felt their mother's presence behind them smiling..

15 minutes later

Slowly making their way out of town, Luffy realized that the woman he met lived in total seclusion, and away from the rest of the island while they began to make their way through a path in the mountains..

"Hey why do you live this far away from the rest of the Island?"

Smiling the woman said

" Just cause.."

but feeling there was something more behind it, he pouted for a few seconds before turning his attention to the children who had now almost vanished from his sight

"Waah! hey wait!"

running to catch up with them, when he reached them he realized that somehow they had come to what looked like the end of the road they had traveled

"Hey there's noothing here!"

Looking around he waited for the woman to catch up, and when she did , out of no where she simply passed through a wall covered by bamboo, and when he did that too he realized that behind the wall was actually the house..

"WOOO! Amazing! hey why did you hide your house it's so cool!"

surrounded by the bamboo from before, the house had come into better view, and now from where he stood Luffy could see the place Ace could've been living in for a while

" Hey Luffy come on .."

Grabbing him by the wrist, the woman pulled Luffy towards her house and entered right behind her children whom began to race around while screaming

"Waahh! We're home!"

and when they went further in, Luffy began to take in all the details of it until the woman let him sit in an open room while she said

"Hey I haven't old you my name have I?"

realizing that now Luffy replied

"AH! NO YOU HAVEN'T!"

Chuckling the woman said

" It's Ren... "


End file.
